JOE DISNEY OF MARTINSVILLE, IND., SELECTED AS NAPA AUTO PARTS HONORARY CREW MEMBER AT U.S. NATIONALS
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<br><font color="Navy">"The U.S. Nationals is the granddaddy of all of them," said Disney. "To be able to be up close with a professional team and go down to the starting line and ride with the team up and down the return road was phenomenal."</font>
<P> CLERMONT, Ind. (Aug. 30, 2008) – Joe Disney, 46, of Martinsville, Ind., was selected as the 18th NAPA AUTO PARTS Honorary Crew Member of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season today at the 54th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Disney is a longtime drag racing fan and racer who has been competing in a Super Gas Corvette since 1980 and owns Joe's Automotive Service, a NAPA AUTO CARE Center in Martinsville.
Bob Wildt, NAPA AUTO PARTS Manager for the NAPA Indianapolis distribution center, helped organize the NAPA Honorary Crew Member contest for the U.S. Nationals. "We ran a wholesale promotion throughout the 123 NAPA stores in the Indianapolis-area using a scratch-and-win promotion. We attached game pieces to every invoice that went out to our customers from the NAPA AUTO PARTS stores. When customers scratched them off they could win NAPA cash, tickets to the U.S. Nationals, NAPA apparel, autographed Ron Capps prints, and the grand prize was the NAPA Honorary Crew member award. We passed out about 50,000 game pieces and Joe was selected out of one of those."
As part of the honor, Disney escorted the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the staging lanes in the team's Dodge Durango tow vehicle for the first round of qualifying on Saturday and also helped retrieve the car at the end of the track following driver Ron Capps' run. Disney enjoyed an up-close-and-personal view of the NAPA crew as the team worked on the car and an exclusive private tour of the team transporter and pit area. Disney also met the entire NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car crew and received a NAPA team jersey. He also was a special guest in the NAPA hospitality area throughout the day.
"The U.S. Nationals is the granddaddy of all of them," said Disney. "To be able to be up close with a professional team and go down to the starting line and ride with the team up and down the return road was phenomenal. This is probably one of the highest honors I've ever had. I've never experienced anything like this. I didn't find out about it until yesterday and I thought the store owner was joking with me at first. This has just been an awesome experience. Being a drag racing fan, I've always looked at this as one of the best races there is and it's just fantastic to come out here with the NAPA family. This has been phenomenal."
NAPA AUTO PARTS distribution centers at each NHRA event during the season have different criteria for choosing the persons who are potential NAPA AUTO PARTS Honorary Crew Members.
Photo by Bill Walters.
<p style="width:300px;float:right;font-weight:bold;padding-right:0px;">
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/IMG_10411.jpg" alt="IMG_10411" />
<br><font color="Navy">"The U.S. Nationals is the granddaddy of all of them," said Disney. "To be able to be up close with a professional team and go down to the starting line and ride with the team up and down the return road was phenomenal."</font>
<P> CLERMONT, Ind. (Aug. 30, 2008) – Joe Disney, 46, of Martinsville, Ind., was selected as the 18th NAPA AUTO PARTS Honorary Crew Member of the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season today at the 54th annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Disney is a longtime drag racing fan and racer who has been competing in a Super Gas Corvette since 1980 and owns Joe's Automotive Service, a NAPA AUTO CARE Center in Martinsville.
Bob Wildt, NAPA AUTO PARTS Manager for the NAPA Indianapolis distribution center, helped organize the NAPA Honorary Crew Member contest for the U.S. Nationals. "We ran a wholesale promotion throughout the 123 NAPA stores in the Indianapolis-area using a scratch-and-win promotion. We attached game pieces to every invoice that went out to our customers from the NAPA AUTO PARTS stores. When customers scratched them off they could win NAPA cash, tickets to the U.S. Nationals, NAPA apparel, autographed Ron Capps prints, and the grand prize was the NAPA Honorary Crew member award. We passed out about 50,000 game pieces and Joe was selected out of one of those."
As part of the honor, Disney escorted the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the staging lanes in the team's Dodge Durango tow vehicle for the first round of qualifying on Saturday and also helped retrieve the car at the end of the track following driver Ron Capps' run. Disney enjoyed an up-close-and-personal view of the NAPA crew as the team worked on the car and an exclusive private tour of the team transporter and pit area. Disney also met the entire NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car crew and received a NAPA team jersey. He also was a special guest in the NAPA hospitality area throughout the day.
"The U.S. Nationals is the granddaddy of all of them," said Disney. "To be able to be up close with a professional team and go down to the starting line and ride with the team up and down the return road was phenomenal. This is probably one of the highest honors I've ever had. I've never experienced anything like this. I didn't find out about it until yesterday and I thought the store owner was joking with me at first. This has just been an awesome experience. Being a drag racing fan, I've always looked at this as one of the best races there is and it's just fantastic to come out here with the NAPA family. This has been phenomenal."
NAPA AUTO PARTS distribution centers at each NHRA event during the season have different criteria for choosing the persons who are potential NAPA AUTO PARTS Honorary Crew Members.
Photo by Bill Walters.
